Re-Air: Can We Talk, or Is Civil Discourse Dead?

Today you can’t turn on your TV set or pick up a newspaper or magazine without being bombarded by graphic scenes of violent demonstrations, angry protestors, riots, acts of terrorism, hate crimes, finger pointing, and righteous indignation.

It appears we are more polarized and divided than ever before in many aspects of our lives, from economics to politics. Society everywhere is finding it more difficult to come to civil agreement and many seem hell-bent on proving others wrong, sometimes violently, rather than look for equitable solutions.

Free speech, respect for others’ differences, democratic society, and our administration are compromised. It appears we are more polarized and divided than ever. The differences are destructive.

Our guests concerns are that we’ve become more “vicious” because of ideology. Ideology has become the new religion. Social media amplifies the noise and has accelerated our ability to wound others. And we have done little to improve our ability to reconcile and relate to others’ perspectives.

Robert E. Hall: Businessman, author of This Land of Strangers and regular contributor to the Huffington Post. He believes that “the broad compounding effect of relationship loss and division across home, work, politics, and faith now devours our relationship capacity- the vast productive potential inherent in relationships”; and

Don Beck, PhD: Social scientist, former UNT Professor and sports columnist; co-author of Spiral Dynamics and the soon to be released, Spiral Dynamics in Action, Dr. Beck asks we consider that “Deep down it’s about perceived values, what are those value systems, and how do we adapt them to life conditions? Today populations are different and we have lost some key values that may have been traditional. At the end of the day it’s about values”.

Radicalization is making it harder for our society to function. For many our ability to cooperate is compromised; we are forming small cities and clans and losing relationships and value structures.

Can these issues be resolved? Tune in to learn what our experts have to say.

And once again we are honored to be underwritten by The Hatton W. Sumner’s Foundation, Inc. The McCuistion Program, a 501 ( C ) ( 3 ) tax exempt organization does not receive any KERA pledge dollars, PBS funds or government grants. The funding which has kept us on the air for 28 years comes from grantors and viewers just like you. So thank you for your continued support.

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